Urochloa trichopus(Hochst.) Stapf

African liverseed grass

WFO wfo-0000906914 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Cleveland Powell
fig. a Cleveland Powell, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-20 / obs. 138150714
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Kym Nicolson
fig. b Kym Nicolson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138702431
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by elawrey
fig. c elawrey, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 33779020
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. d Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126769732
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Chet Burrier
fig. e Chet Burrier, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204667626
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Ryan Donnelly
fig. f Ryan Donnelly, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199935869
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Ryan Donnelly
fig. g Ryan Donnelly, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198570308
Urochloa trichopus, photographed by Sam Kieschnick
fig. h Sam Kieschnick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 168967753

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 34 botanical countries

Regions where Urochloa trichopus is native: Angola, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Yemen AngolaBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCape ProvincesCaprivi StripChadCongoDR CongoEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaUgandaZambiaZimbabweSaudi ArabiaYemen
Native distribution of Urochloa trichopus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Caprivi Strip CPV
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Saudi Arabia SAU ASIA-TEMPERATE
Yemen YEM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 173 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 4.9 °C 10.9 °C 19.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.1 °C 31.7 °C 36.0 °C
Annual rainfall 525 mm 699 mm 1,451 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 5 mm 54 mm 114 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 173 research-grade observations of Urochloa trichopus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Brachiaria stolonifera Gooss.
  • Echinochloa notabilis (Hook.f.) D.Rhind
  • Eriochloa trichopus (Hochst.) Benth.
  • Eriochloa trichopus var. glabrata Schweinf.
  • Helopus trichopus (Hochst.) Steud.
  • Panicum dorsisetum Hack. ex T.Durand & Schinz
  • Panicum mosambicense Hack.
  • Panicum mossambicense Hack.
  • Panicum notabile Hook.f.
  • Panicum papillosum Fenzl ex Steud.
  • Panicum trichopodon A.Rich.
  • Panicum trichopus Hochst.
  • Panicum trichopus var. chiovendae Lanza & Mattei
  • Panicum trichopus var. glabrata Schweinf.
  • Panicum trichopus var. lasiostachys A.Chev.
  • Urochloa brachyphylla Gilli
  • Urochloa engleri Pilg.
  • Urochloa mosambicensis (Hack.) Dandy
  • Urochloa pullulans Stapf
  • Urochloa pullulans var. mosambicensis (Hack.) Stapf
  • Urochloa rhodesiensis Stent
  • Urochloa stolonifera (Gooss.) Chippind.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol URMO80. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.